Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that Government will start issuing new International Certificate of Vaccination and Prophylaxis from October, and will be a more secured version.
He said this at the launch of the new “Yellow Card” certificate in Abuja. He said, “It was agreed at the meeting that the Federal Ministry of Health proceed with the introduction of the new card which should have advanced security features that were lacking in the old ones.”
“The council also resolved that the cards be produced centrally by the Federal Ministry of Health, while a transition period of six months was to be allowed to withdraw the old cards after the introduction of the new card.”
“As minister, when I go on the street and ask people, quite a number of Nigerians don’t seem to appreciate that we have a new Yellow Card. Yet, we have set a target of October, that in October, that is just next month, the old card will no longer be valid. We don’t want Nigerians to get embarrassed; that is why we are trying to ensure Nigerians are aware and they get the new Yellow Card,” he added.
“If you have the old card and your immunisation is still valid, they will simply revalidate and give you a new one. If it is due for you to have a new immunisation, they will also immunise you appropriately and issue you the new card.”
Concerning certificate fee, he said, “We have always paid for the Yellow Card; it used to be N500. It is not the first time. Nigeria has always paid for the Yellow Card.”
